6 Further amendments
35. In addition to the amendments made to the draft
Order in response both to our earlier report and to other representations
received, the Department has made additional minor amendments
of its own. These are set out in full in the explanatory statement
and summarised briefly below.
36. New section 15(10) of the 1997 Act, to be inserted
by article 5 of the draft Order, has been amended to more closely
reflect the words used in the present section 15(5) of the Act,
and to make it clear that different periods may be prescribed
for the different actions set out in the section.[24]
The Department indicates that this was not included in the proposal
for the Order owing to an oversight. Consequential amendments
have been made to article 4 and to new article 13 (old article
15).[25]
37. The language in new section 20B(1), to be inserted
by article 8 of the draft Order, has been clarified to remove
a possible linguistic ambiguity.[26]
38. New article 11 amends section 60(6)(b) of the
1977 Act to reflect the creation of new sections 20B (4) and (5)
and 117A(4) and (5). This is a consequential provision which the
Department failed to include in the proposal for the Order.[27]
39. Articles 20 to 23 replace old articles 24 and
25, which made arrangements for transitional provisions. They
are intended to maintain the continuity of processing of applications
which were filed on dates preceding the coming into force of the
draft Order. The Department explains that these provisions have
been recast "to more accurately reflect the different provisions
that are appropriate to applications of different origins."[28]
40. We consider that these own-initiative amendments
are wholly beneficial to the operation of the Order and raise
no issues of principle which would require re-consultation.
24 Explanatory statement, paras 5.09-5.10 Back
25
Explanatory statement, paras 5.08 and 5.13 Back
26
Explanatory statement, para 5.11 Back
27
Explanatory statement, para 5.12 Back
28
Explanatory statement, para 5.14 Back
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